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SUMMARY OF PERSONNEL MONITORING (BIOASSAY) OF PEOPLE LIVING AT BIKINI
ATOLL 1969 - 1975
[Note:

The bioassay data in the handout at the September (1975)

Department of Interior meeting on the Bikini people has been updated
in this report to include the recently completed 1975 urine data.

It

should be noted that in the summary table of urine analyses (Table 4
of the original handout) plutonium data have been omitted since Mr.
Edward Hardy at the ERDA Health and Safety Laboratory (who did the
analyses) advises that because of the large error in counting plutonium at near background levels, the results should not have been averaged.

However,

the individual urine plutonium data are now reported

separately (Table 7)].
In 1969 a group of about 30 Marshallese people settled in a work
camp on Enue Island at Bikini Atoll to carry out the rehabilitation
program.

Many of the group commuted to Bikini Island about 7 miles

away where they worked during the day.
families

By early 1972 three Bikini

(about 50 people) plus 20-30 workmen moved to Bikini Island

and lived on the southern end of the Island in frame buildings remaining from the earlier weapon testing program.

The three Bikini families

later moved into several of the completed concrete houses in the southern
sector near the lagoon.

The size of the population living on Bikini has

not changed much as of 1975.
Radiological monitoring of personnel on Bikini Atoll has been done
annually by the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) medical team as
specified by the 1968 Ad Hoc Committee recommendation.

The monitoring

procedures are not medical examinations and were performed by experts

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